WieKing Family--Happy Easter! What a great day!
Game 1 vs. Pride:
Girls, I was, for lack of better words... Stunned! We practiced being first in taking balls out of the air. We practiced 1 touch passing, and we went over in detail our new formation.
The passing was pretty darn good that first game--specifically in the second half. Their defense played a very high and straight line. They caught us offside at least 10 times. Anyway, we kept trying to quickly send it over for our forwards to run on it. But, after we spoke at halftime, and explained that if we play to feet and look to switch fields in the middle and work it back and forth, that we could play a through pass, and catch their defense off balance, which would allow or forwards to get behind their defense. We did exactly that the second half that gave us much better scoring opportunities.
We went down 1-0 with one of the best shots(volley) from distance I have ever seen in a game, outside of professional soccer! That girl was very surprised she hit it that solid and put it up in the upper 90's. No goalie in the world could have stopped that. Incredible shot.
You girls played WAY to good and hard that game to lose that. Us coaches wanted you girls to win so bad because you deserved too. And what you did the last four minutes was just enough to make a movie on overcoming adversity!
Before we go there, I just can't tell you enough how if you play with that mentality, THAT ENTIRE GAME FROM THE ENTIRE TEAM, that there are not many teams that will beat you. You girls, from the very first whistle, won every single ball. Back to that word "stunned" I used. For me to even call out one name for how well they played, is unfair. It was the biggest team effort for the entire 70 minutes, that I have ever witnessed from this team. The last time I saw a total team play like that at one time was watching a girls Notre Dame team about 2 years ago. I can promise you all this. If you work that hard, and tell yourself you will step to and win every ball, and the one you don't win, you will do absolutely everything in your power to win it back--you will continue to win many, many, many games. The talk, the hustle, the effort, the movement off the ball, the support, the pressure on the ball, the PHYSICALITY!!! My gosh, you girls "GAVE IT" to a strong team that was just relegated from the Buckeye State Division last fall!!
I am so glad it paid off. Watching you girl fight for that loose ball in front of the goal, bodies flying everywhere, and somehow Megan got to it and helped us win that battle to tie it 1-1 in the 66th minute. And then, in the 69th minute, Jenna, who received it from the left side, quickly looked up right for Ciara, who was staying high and wide, but onside, and Jenna made that perfect through pass--Ciara took off like a missile the minute it left Jenna's foot and had a PERFECT first touch to goal, and used her very good speed (the speed I witnessed the night before in the track meet!), and played a great low shot for our team to go up 2-1 with a minute left to win the most exciting and rewarding game I've ever seen you girls play--and then Eric and Gary and I high fived each other like we just won the World Cup!!!! WOW!!!! Girls, you all played so great, every position, and our defense was just incredible as always, but stepped it up even more to win every darn ball. Gosh I want to ramble on forever about this game!!! REMEMBER THAT INTENSITY EVERY GAME!!!!!!!
Game 2 vs Santos
Now we go on to play our second game of the day, to another team that just had been in the Buckeye State division in the fall--and it was their first game of the day! That is asking a lot from a team.
But again, you girls did it. You played on an 8v8 field that had potholes all over it. I promise I won't allow this team to ever play on a field like that again--I learned my lesson with Molly that game. By the way, thanks all for your emails and texts and calls. She actually is walking on it and the swelling is minimal. She can't fully extend it, so running is out. I'm guessing (hoping) it's just a sprain--I thought for sure we saw our first ACL tear; will give it a few days and hopefully it'll continue to get better--if not, we'll get her checked out.
Anyway, on a field that small, with it in the most terrible condition a field could be, I new the "beautiful game" was not gonna happen. I new it was gonna be a dogfight.
We noticed (ERIC) right away after a few plays, they had a girl that was as fast as our fastest, as strong as our strongest, and as skilled as our most skilled. And as Eric added, she had a very high soccer IQ and saw the field well. It's not often we would "man mark" a girl, but we felt if we could take her out of the game, that we would beat this team. Molly did a great job man marking her till she got hurt, and Kylie after that (especially being sick), and the rest of you did such a great job working with one less offensive player due to molly and kylie not leaving her side, even when we had the ball--so proud you were able to win that game!
You all continued to work soo hard. That team was skilled, fast, and very aggressive. I've never ever been the one to say this, but they played dirty. Constantly pulling shirts, clipping from behind, and just mean girls--not only to you all, but to each other. I know how they were fighting with their own teammates and cursing at each other.
Girls, that right there, is how a team that might have matched you in skill, speed and strength, lost 2-0. You girls play so well as a team, and they all played as individuals. That game could have went either way, but you continued to do great things. I know we had two, just incredible shots from DISTANCE, that put us ahead 2-0 to win that game (great shots Hope and Ciara!). And that team might have walked away saying "they just got two lucky shots". But here is what I want you all to think about. If hope and Ciara don't play High Pressure, and step in front of those forwards to win that ball, would they even had a chance to shoot those incredible shots???? No, they wouldn't have. Remember girls, we can't even have a chance for those shots if we don't get to the ball first, and we did! And, it also was our game plan. Remember Coach Eric said "they are drawing straws to see who wants to play goalie because they don't have a full time goalie, so take as many shots as possible"?! And that is what you girls did. Such a great WIN!!!!!
See you all at practice and then we play a team on Tuesday that we have played twice in the past, and tied them 0-0 and 1-1. Please, come play like we did this weekend, and I do not foresee a tie this time!
Coach Brian
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